Perkins Coie is proud to announce that the third edition of A Manufacturer's Guide to Product Liability Law in the United States is now available as an e-book and in a Chinese printed version, as well as the original English printed version. The e-book version can be downloaded, free of charge, in a variety of formats using the links below.

First published in 1991, this book has become a valued guide to the laws, procedures, and processes underlying modern American product liability cases. It offers concrete advice to manufacturers on how to reduce their product liability exposure.  Although this book offers valuable insights for even experienced practitioners, it was drafted for a non-legal audience, to educate readers such as managers and other key decision-makers about the risks involved in their daily work.

Perkins Coie attorneys Mack Shultz, Christian Moller, and Keith Gerrard authored the book. They have periodically updated the guide to help manufacturers stay current with changes in laws, litigation practices, and the emerging strategies and tactics used by the plaintiffs' bar.

Perkins Coie attorney Sarah (Xiaohua) Zhao, assisted by the firm’s Beijing team, translated the book into Chinese. The translation has been published in China by The Law Press of China (法律出版社) and is now being sold at prominent legal bookstores.

Links to Download the E-book

• Online Reading
• Epub (Apple iPad/iBooks, Nook, and most e-reading apps)
• Kindle
• PDF
• Full List of Formats

Manufacturers are hurt in product liability litigation in the United States because their key employees do not understand the law and the legal process used to obtain damage awards from their employers. Because they lack this information, these employees in their day-to-day actions commit errors that lose lawsuits and increase the amount of damages awarded.

This primer provides basic information about product liability laws and legal procedures in product liability lawsuits in the United States. It also suggests measures that you can take to reduce your product liability exposure.

This book is intended to be read by your nonlegal personnel. It can be used as a source for a product liability prevention program or as the syllabus for a more extensive corporate program. We have simplified where possible, but product liability is not a simple subject. This guide will yield its maximum benefit if studied carefully.

We conduct product liability educational seminars for our manufacturing clients because we know that product liability exposure is reduced when the type of information contained in this primer is provided to employees—particularly to managers and other key decision makers. These are the people who make design decisions, determine what product literature or placards are called for, evaluate in-service experience, and adopt or reject product improvements. These are also the people who will be called on to testify in American courts in defense of your products. This primer was written for them.